Blackberry News & Tips Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 CIO BlackBerry News and Tips
 CIO Research and Analysis
 CIO Microsoft
 CIO Insider
 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Public Council Teleconference: Application Rationalization — Hidden Costs and Smart Decisions

November 17 at 11:00 am US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Honorio Padrón, of The Hackett Group, who will share the drivers for companies to tackle application rationalization and the results of research that define the hidden cost of complexity. Additionally, we will discuss key decision milestones—to start or not, holding the course steady and fulfilling expectations.

Virtual Desktop Cost-Benefit Analysis — Michael Jacobs, Catlin Group

The analysis contained in this presentation measures the cost of everything from the machines and licenses to the infrastructure for virtual vs. traditional desktop environments.

Honor your best senior team members - Apply for the CIO Ones to Watch Award

Get well-earned public recognition for your top up-and-coming team members, your IT organization and your enterprise. Award winners will be announced, publicized and feted in May 2010, great timing to help attract new IT recruits to your company.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 

Grassroots Technology - Crossing the Digital Divide, One Person at a Time

SAN PABLO, Calif. — In this rough town north of Oakland, Randal Strickland is using technology to make a difference ...

 

June 15, 2004CIO

SAN PABLO, Calif. — In this rough town north of Oakland, Randal Strickland is using technology to make a difference in people’s lives after seeing it transform his own. The vehicle is Street Tech, one in a network of Community Technology Centers (CTCs) around the nation that work at the grass roots to build citizens’ technical skills and computer literacy.

Strickland, a heavily muscled man who spent a decade behind bars, is one of the stars of the San Pablo center. He’s an ex-con who came through its technology training programs, worked for large corporations Chevron and Levi Strauss, and is now Street Tech’s full-time technical programs coordinator.

There are thousands of CTCs in the United States, all nonprofits, all designed to help bridge the digital divide by teaching low-income people technology skills. "We’re trying to get the hardest-to-serve, most difficult populations," says Paul Lamb, Street Tech’s founder and executive director.

To that end, Street Tech runs a basic three-month class designed to demystify PCs for people who may have never turned one on (part of the class involves refurbishing PCs). But it also offers classes to help people get a CompTIA A+ certification, as well as Microsoft Certified Professional courses; and it teaches professional skills workshops, since few of its students have ever held white-collar jobs. It has graduated between 60 and 100 students a year since its founding in 2000. Even in the pallid Bay Area economy, 60 percent of those seeking jobs found them, and 30 percent have returned for additional training.

Street Tech is one of the larger CTCs, with four full-time employees and 10 part-time (including Lamb). It’s also one of the most creative. In January, it opened ReliaTech, a storefront service center for PC repairs. It shares space with a San Pablo Public Library branch, a center to help people assess skills and find jobs, a child-care center and a couple of small retailers.

While Lamb jokes that ReliaTech’s ambition is to bury retail chains like CompUSA, its real goals are to provide work experience for Street Tech course graduates and generate a profit that will help reduce Street Tech’s need for grants. (The center’s $500,000 budget comes mostly from foundations.) ReliaTech employs eight people, including CEO Jessy Gonzalez, a former technology consultant who was Street Tech’s first technical training director. One of its technical leads is a former auto mechanic named Patrick Cheung, who now works for the Bay Area School Districts. Cheung has developed a passion for technology through taking Street Tech courses and, in less than two years, has become a Microsoft-certified service administrator.

 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Next Generation Remote Infrastructure Management

Read this paper to see how Genpact helps extract value from RIM engagements through its RIMnexgenSM approach.
 

Service Level Reporting and Communication

Service level reporting is the most visible output and often the most time-consuming activity in SLM.
 

Data Center Cost Analysis

Read this white paper to see how a server refresh can actually save money and meet green initiatives.
 

The Future Data Center

Building the next-generation data center requires a forward-thinking strategy that encompasses a broad range of new technologies.
 

Informatica Platform and Integration Competency Centers

Forrester used its total economic impact methodology to interview seven companies that have standardized their data integration practices.
 

Cutting the Cost of Enterprise Databases

This IDC white paper discusses the growing complexity of datacenter management, which is causing escalating costs.
 

WEBCASTS

Profit from Power Savings

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management

Find out how and why 400 organizations have d...
 

IT Consolidation Made Easy

The Primary IT Initiative for Reducing Costs
 

CIOs Weigh In On Virtualization

Date: November 19, 2009 Time: 2:00 PM EST

Gary Beach, publisher emeritus of CIO magazine,...
 

Webcast- Vantage 11: Redefining Application Performance Management

Redefining Application Performance Management
 

Architecting Business Intelligence Applications for Change: The Open Solution

Architecting BI Applications for Change
 

Taking a Seat at the Executive Table: The Reality of Virtualization

This year, for the first time, the number of virtual machines is on track to exceed the number of physical machines...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Cloud Computing--Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future?

10 Ways Excel Drives More Value from Your SAP Investment

Join us at the US-Brazil IT-BPO Summit, on November 10th in New York.

Unified Communications: Thoughts, Strategies and Predictions. Join the discussion

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

Webcast: Looking to the Cloud for Email and Collaboration Services

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Keep your IT expertise up to date. Join the Intel Premier IT Professionals.

A new fleet of PCs with a total ROI in 10 months. Find your ROI.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

World-class trading technology solutions from NYSE Technologies.

If You're Paying for Telecom, You're Paying Too Much. Contact Asentinel Today.

Trade-In your old printer and save up to $1,000 plus free recycling!

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

White Paper: Right-Sizing Your Power Infrastructure

Webcast: Unleashing the Power of Customer Data

White Paper: Managed Security for a Not-So-Secure World

SharePoint - Unchecked growth of content is unsustainable.

White Paper: Legacy Tools: Not Built for the Helpdesk

Taking a Seat at the Executive Table: The Reality of Virtualization

Five-Step Mobility Management Plan

Top to Bottom Performance Management Excellence at the City of Chicago

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Top Five CIO Challenges

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Want to know how you can maximize employee productivity?

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Interactive Q&A helps you discover key ways to maximize IT assets.

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Think you can't afford a Cisco Switch? Cisco Catalyst Switches are now more affordable.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths

Mobile Security: The Essential Ingredient for Today's Enterprise

White Paper: Improve Agility with Operational Responsiveness

White Paper: 5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support

Global Research: CIOs Weigh In On Virtualization

5 Key Virtualization Management Challenges

Learn How Web Site Performance Impacts Shopper Behavior